Even if it is a non-profit entity, because of circumstances surrounding the Campbell Theater, OnStage must operate like a business. More importantly, the City of Martinez is indirectly a stakeholder in the business success of the theater operation.

The City has been renting the theater at 636 Ward Street, in hopes of providing a cultural amenity for residents and visitors, and a foot-traffic boost for downtown restaurants, shops, and bars.

One reason the OnStage company is at the Campbell Theater is the failure of the Willows Theater, the previous sub-tenant. That theater company failed to make the theater operation into a positive cash flow situation in Martinez. They could not pay the rent and abandoned the property, leaving the city to pay rent on a vacant theater for about two years.

OnStage Repertory Theater Company was founded by Helen Means as a 501 (c) (3) in Pleasant Hill. The company was performing at the historic “Old Schoolhouse” until the city condemned the building. Five years ago, the OnStage company needed a new home and Martinez needed a theater operator willing to fill the void left by the Village Theater group.

It took time to get the property in shape and build an audience. OnStage now produces 12 plays a year, running two to three weeks each, according to Randy Anger, managing director. Two other theater companies, Plot Lines and Women of Words, book shows there throughout the year. There are also musicals, Improv, Star Quest, Martinez Has Talent, plus comedy performances in the schedule.

Production Manager Mark Hinds said, “It has become even more than that. We recently partnered with a high school band and split the profits. The school did not have to pay for the theater. They packed the house and went away with $240 for the band.”

Now the City, which Hinds said has been cooperative about issues with the building, is requiring OnStage to make quarterly reports to the Martinez Parks, Recreation, Marina and Cultural Commission.

Perhaps a closer collaboration between the two entities could take the theater operation to the next level in terms of revenue. The theater already has a robust group of community volunteers. Hinds credits the volunteers for the success they have had, but Bay Area community theaters are not known for their profitability. Several cities charge $1 per year rent to the theater company tenant, but those cities likely own their theater properties.

These reports will help highlight the remarkable amount of volunteer work that has gone into the theater operation and quantifies expenses, income, successes, and failures in terms of profitability.

Hinds, who is also on the OnStage Board of Directors said that the renewable one-year leases preclude long term planning and booking and also limit solicitation of donations. “A businesses may be reluctant to donate if they are not sure you will be there next year,” he noted.

This is a non-profit with all of the elements and issues of a business. Because it is a public amenity, public involvement and support is an intangible luxury that most businesses lack.

This week I will invite you to experience a delightful evening of changing room silliness, in Kathryn G. McCarty’s delightful comedy, “The Fitting Room”, right here in the Campbell Theater. This is not your typical plot driven story, but rather a character driven story that seems to be more like the diary of a lady that worked in a department store and more specifically in the fitting room. Have you ever felt out of just plain curiosity, what it would be like to be a fly on a wall, where you could discreetly listen to all the unfiltered stories that take place between women and men, in private places? In this story, 14 actresses and actors change characters again and again (up to 41 times) in the course of selecting and trying and buying garments, where they also share their very personal thoughts, both pro and con, between friends and lovers, family and foes who accompany them into the fitting room.

In this story, set in Donaldson’s Department Store, somewhere in Minnesota in the mid-50s and early 60s, the audience is taken back to a time when the grand old department stores were the place to shop. Forty-one characters come and go into a fitting room, trying on an incredible variety of clothing (purportedly up to 400 different garments used in this show) during one work day. This story is a mad flurry of garment changes, purchases, and rejections. Two people are constant in the story; the fitting room attendant, Grace (Linda Sciacqua), who tries to keep the fitting room somewhat neat and orderly, but which, by the end of the day, has become almost impossible with so many people coming and going. The second lady, Barbara (Rhonda Hougland Bowen), is a somewhat inebriated woman suffering from severe anger and anxiety and rejection having just discovered that her husband is divorcing her for a much younger woman. It seems that on this day it has become her mission to engage in a madcap shopping spree spending as much of her soon-to-be ex-husband’s credit card limit as possible. Other actresses include these very talented performers, each playing a remarkable number of characters: Jennifer Lynn Brown Peabody (6), Erin McMann (4), Sheilah Morrison (4), Sarah Piane (5), Haley Kennen (5), Evelyn Owens (6), Allison Means (4), Rita Hamlin (4), Barry Hanau (4), Austin Maisler (3) and Craig Anderson (3).There are far too many character portrayals to delve much into their individual skits. You will just have to trust me that as there are a lot, they happen very quickly and are gone very quickly as well. For example, there is one scene where a young high school aged girl (Erin McMann) is in the dressing room with her legs and feet humorously observable as she lays on her back on the floor, trying desperately to squeeze her way into some very tight jeans, when she suddenly finds the zipper is stuck and she panics. Fearing she will damage the garment trying to remove it, she cries out to her girlfriend waiting outside the changing room, pleading earnestly for her to help her. Unfortunately, the young lady has locked the door from the inside, making it almost impossible for her girlfriend outside to help her shed the garment. The insane fun that follows is too funny to share and telling you would totally spoil the cake you would get, seeing it in person. The entire evening is one insane skit after another, happening in rapid fire order. I think you will find it a remarkably unique production in many funny ways!

“The Fitting Room” continues Fridays and Saturdays at 8 PM, with Thursday performances on June 20 and 27th at 7:30 PM followed by Sunday performances on June 23 and 30th at 2:30 PM. This comedy is in high the Martinez Campbell theater at 636 Ward St. in Martinez. General admission is $20 each, with students and seniors only $18 each. All Thursday tickets are a very reasonable $17 each. For ticket reservations you may visit online at https://fittingroom.brownpapertickets.com or call 925-350-9770, or visit the theater’s website itself at www.Campbelltheater.com.

I’ve spoken many times over the years to my readers about the incredible Belasco (children’s) Theater company that used perform in the Del Valle theater complex next door to Rossmoor on Tice Valley Boulevard in Walnut Creek. Eddie Belasco, the creator of the Belasco theater company, passed away a few years ago and two of the young ladies that I had reviewed as young actresses performing in his company (Jarusha Ariel and Shayna Ronen), went on to become professional actresses. As recently as 2017, they came back to our area and formed their own theater company (“I Can Do That Theater (ICDT)”) based on Eddie Belasco’s successful educational and actor training methods.

ICDT’s current show, “A Chorus Line,” was created in the early 1970s by Marvin Hamlisch, Edward Kleban, James Kirkwood Junior and Nicholas Dante. The Broadway story focused primarily on 17 Broadway dancers auditioning for spots on a chorus line and the musical opened at the Shubert Theater on Broadway in 1975 under the direction of Michael Bennett. It was an unprecedented box office hit, winning nine of its 12 Tony award nominations, in addition to the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for drama. The ICDT theater production just about doubles the number of dancers (32) auditioning for a chorus line job (of which only eight finalists are needed), allowing their many delightful, talented and hard-working youth and young adult theatrical students to participate in this show.

The songs, the music, the coming-of-age and maturity comedy is just as delightful in the hands of these talented young performers as it is in community theater’s all across this country. The performers gather on the bare stage as director Zach (Benjamin Shaw) and assistant choreographer Larry (Scout Del Real) put them through their paces. Zach wants to have a better understanding as to what drives each of the auditioning dancers, how they became interested in and trained as dancers, what makes them tick and by delving into their personalities, the happiness and unhappiness of their childhood, and even of a few personal secrets. The auditioning process takes approximately one day in these performer’s ’s lives and as that day comes to a close, and the finalists are chosen, leaving with the audience a richly rewarding experience of the audition process.

There are far too many talented and wonderful young people to properly reward with appropriate kudos in this publication, but on the sterling side, Jordan Covington as Richie (probably in his early 20’s) is definitely a star-worthy dancer. Equally delightful in their performances are Rosie Corr (Cassie), Maya Batongbacal (Connie), Brian Doyle (Bobby), Ryan Styne (Sheila), and Sean Gin (Paul), whose touching, heartfelt, and reluctant revelations about a youth dealing with homosexuality, brought tears to my eyes.

“A Chorus Line” continues with performances this coming Friday (the 21st) at 7:30 PM, Saturday (the 22nd) at 2 PM and 7 PM, and closing on Sunday(23rd) with a 2 PM matinee. Tickets are available through the I Can Do That Web page at https://www.icandothattheatre.com/ where the “A Chorus Line “ page will pop up and the tickets link will show you the dates and show times. Click on “Buy Tickets”, select the desired date and ticket prices, and available seating and payment options will allow you to purchase the tickets. The Danville community center & theater is located at 420 Front St., Danville Ticket prices range between $15 for students, $18 for adult seniors and $20 for general admission. This is a wonderful show that I strongly recommend you attend. These talented hard-working young people deserve your support, love and encouragement. The I Can Do That Theater can be contacted at (925) 718-5899 and their studio/classroom is located at 101-E Town & Country Drive, Danville, CA 94526.

By SCOTT BABA
Art and Entertainment Editor

Onstage Theater Company premiered its last play of the season at the Campbell Theater on Friday with “The Fitting Room,” a vibrant and ambitious work by local playwright Kathryn G. McCarty.

“The Fitting Room” is an intriguing piece of theater, and feels almost experimental in nature. It isn’t so much a single cohesive tale as it is a lightning-fast succession of single-act stories all set in the same place, the ladies fitting room of a trendy department store.

The play happens in real time with no scene breaks (except, arguably, the intermission). Over the course of it, characters come and go, try on different clothes, chat with their friends and with strangers and themselves, and basically live their lives – at least that slim portion of it that happens in a changing room.

With a couple of exceptions, the characters and their stories don’t appear more than once (though the actors do, with most of them playing four or five different characters). Each episode stands alone, and by and large are compelling enough to hold their own. The characters talk about – and sometimes live through – the problems they’re dealing with, the little tragedies that have recently befallen them, and the big things they’re planning.

Throughout the play, each little vignette that happens in the fitting room feel natural, a true slice of life.

Some of the stories are cute, like the father taking his daughter shopping for her first prom dress.

Others are poignant, like the story of the woman and her gay best friend, discussing all the people they knew who they’ve lost to AIDS.

Many aren’t even really stories, but just fun little moments, like the girl trying to force herself into a pair of pants that clealry don’t fit.

Most are edged with a bright sense of humor, and if any particular scene fails to land, the jokes and gags keep the momentum going.

McCarty, who also co-directed the production with Helen Means, originally wrote the play two decades ago. She said that her original inspiration for the play was her own experiences.

“Everything I write, no matter what the subject matter, I tend to pick something from my own life,” McCarty said, “something that bothers me or things that I want to see changed.”

McCarty added that the transformative nature of the fitting room made it an ideal setting to explore different facets of peoples lives.

“I have a thing about clothes, which I think most women do,” she said, “putting them on, changing them, trying this or that – I’m just fascinated by them, and how they change people and make people act.”

Rhonda Bowen plays Barbera, one of the few reoccuring characters, a woman using retail therapy to numb the pain of a recent life trauma. Bowen said that she enjoyed the play, and having the McCarty as one of the directors.

“I think Kathryn’s done a wonderful job,” Bowen said. “It’s been really wonderful to have the playwright also directing because it really adds something. She takes things from our characterizations and builds on it and develops it further.”

Hayley Kennen plays five different characters in the play, and said that there was an authenticity that shone through in a way that more traditional plays lacked.

“I really like it. It’s something I’ve never seen before,” Cannon said. “It’s very realistic, because it does feel like the audience is looking through a glass and looking into a fitting room to see kind of what goes on.”

Evelyn Owens also plays a number of different characters, and said that ultimately the structure of the play informed the central theme of it.

“It’s about life,” Owen said. “A lot of these character are talking about life issues in the dressing room and kind of figuring things out, wanting their friends input, wondering why the guy doesn’t call her. So just kind of all of these things that we have in our everyday life come together on the stage.”

Come see “The Fitting Room” for a fun, diverse, thoughtful mix of stories.

Last weekend, Vivian and I went to the Campbell Theater to see Agatha Christie’s “A Murder Is Announced.” It was a wonderful production. We were impressed with the lighting, sound, costumes, sets, direction, and acting. I highly recommend that you go see it for yourself. It runs through May 26th.

Vivian and I have experience working in theaters so appreciate all the hard work that goes into staging a smooth production. For ten years, Vivian was the costumer at Will C Wood High School in Vacaville. She would create a hundred or more different outfits for student actors in each show.

One of the things I love about my wife is her resourcefulness. She was walking across campus one evening worried about creating costumes for the musical “Girl Crazy” with a practically nonexistent budget when her eyes fell on the school’s Pampas Grass landscaping. The tall dried stalks looked like hat feathers! Vivian snapped off a stem and experimented. For the next couple weeks, students were seen dashing around campus to secure the most perfect stalk for their hat. Because they were fragile, each performance required a fresh stalk. The show was a success. Only the cast and crew knew about the plant fluff flying around backstage and in the dressing rooms like tiny tumbleweeds. Dry Pampas Grass sheds a lot.

Vivian was also the resident costumer for North Bay Opera in Fairfield for more than ten years. Her crowning success in “Le Nozze di Figaro” earned an Arty Award that honors outstanding achievement in the performing arts in the Solano and Napa County regions.

Not everything in the theater is as frictionless as it appears from the front of house. There are shenanigans and hijinks backstage that the audience never sees. One of my favorite plays is “Noises Off” by the English playwright Michael Frayn. Before intermission, it presents a stage show as seen by the audience. After intermission, it presents the same show as seen backstage. The frantic activity the audience can’t see is a cross between Keystone Cops and the Three Stooges. Sometimes, real life backstage is not that much different.

In 2011, we were rehearsing the opera “Falstaff” by Giuseppe Verdi. I was helping with properties at the Fairfield opera house when the director loudly called for someone to bring a wine bottle. The scene called for Falstaff to sit in a big chair onstage drinking wine while he sang his aria. The prop mistress looked at me helplessly. Nobody told her that she would need to supply a wine bottle.

When the director asked again, she called from backstage that one was on the way as I sprinted out the door and down the alley. In a minute or two, I was in a little neighborhood grocery store three blocks away. Breathing hard, I asked for the cheapest bottle of wine in the store. The clerk was amazed when I ripped off the paper label and handed it to him on my way out the door. We only needed the bottle.

Back at the theater ten minutes later, I had the bottle uncorked and was about to dump out the wine when the prop mistress grabbed it from my hands. “No time,” she said and ran it on stage.

Following directions, Falstaff began his is song and took a swig. The look on his face was priceless. He didn’t expect anything in the bottle, let alone wine. When his female companion entered the scene and took a swig, she was surprised too but neither said a word. During the afternoon, they practiced their entrances, exits, blocking and vocals several times, each time with a swig at the bottle. By the time the scene was set, the bottle was empty!

Nobody ever spoke a word about what happened but the director commented at the end of the day that it had been one of their best rehearsals.

I sang with the chorus in “Falstaff” and distinctly remember that my costume pants were safety-pinned together for opening night. That is what happens when one is married to the costumer, you are the last to get a finished costume. In a different show, she glue-gunned the military medals onto my tunic (while I was still wearing it!) then safety-pinned my tunic closed because there was no time to sew medals or buttons before I went on stage.

Vivian used the forty-foot rule. If it looked good from forty feet away in the daylight, that was just right. Nobody in the audience was going to get any closer than that and stage lighting masks any minor imperfections.

North Bay Opera also staged “Eugene Onegin” in which there is an epic duel. At the end of scene four, the two protagonists would square off on stage and shoot at each other. The director insisted on using antique dueling pistols with live ammunition (blanks) to give this scene authenticity. Unfortunately, dueling pistols are notoriously unreliable. They would only explode half the time. We actors never knew if they would go off or not. They were very loud when they did go off and we all jumped. When they did not go off, we jumped anyway, just from reflex.

A few years later, our daughter Marion and I were in a production of “Oliver” with Vallejo Music Theatre. We each had four different costumes. Backstage was a madhouse with actors constantly running back and forth to change. I played Doctor Grimwig who does a medical examination of the sick hero Oliver. Oliver was played by a twelve-year-old actor. To keep him on his toes during rehearsal, I carried a bunch of random stuff in my enormous medical bag. Instead of a stethoscope, I would pull out a yoyo or a rubber duck. I found some of that stuff later in the pockets of my other three costumes. To this day, I don’t know who did it. Everyone is a practical joker.

Even professionals are not perfect. One of the greatest composers of all time was Gioachino Rossini. In the thirteen years between 1810–1823, he composed thirty-four world-class operas. Always a procrastinator, Rossini did not write the overture for his opera “The Thieving Magpie” until May 31, 1817 — the day it opened! That morning, the desperate theater manager locked Rossini and four stagehands in the theater’s attic. Rossini was instructed to drop the completed pages out the open window for the copyists in the street below to pick up and transcribe; in the absence of pages, the four stagehands were ordered to throw Rossini out the window instead! Rossini finished and the opera opened on time to rave reviews.

Live theater is a wonderful enhancement for our community. Great performances inspire, motivate, and enrich the soul. Our favorite local theaters are the Campbell Theater in Martinez, Diablo Valley College Drama, Woodminster Summer Musicals, and California Theatre in Pittsburg. We recommend all of these.

Vivian and I are retired from working in the theater but will never forget the exhilaration and satisfaction that comes with putting together a huge stage production. As one aging thespian replied when asked if he would prefer to be cremated or buried, “Neither, just set me in front of the bright lights.”

In 1977, playwright, author and screen writer, Leslie Darbon, adapted Dame Agatha Christie’s very popular 50th anniversary book, entitled A Murder is Announced, into a stage play. It is Miss Darbon’s Sterling adaptation that you will see in this intriguing community theater production in Martinez. The original Agatha Christie book was written 27 years earlier, in 1950, and featured one of Christie’s amateur sleuth detectives, Miss Marple. It has been considered for a number of years by many mystery aficionados as a classic true crime novel.

Author Agatha Christie is one of many British playwrights whose work I’ve often enjoyed in theatrical productions. I had not seen this particular play, and was seriously looking forward to it when Karen and I and a couple of friends stopped by the Martinez Campbell theater this past weekend.

The story takes place in Chipping Cleghorn, a fictional Agatha Christie community somewhere in England, where a curious classified notice has just been published in the local daily newspaper announcing that a murder will occur in Letitia Blacklock’s (Sally Hogarty) home, also known as “Little Paddocks”, at 6:30 PM on that same day. Miss Blacklock resides there with her younger cousins, Julia Simmons (Clarisse Nichole) and Patrick Simmons (Joseph Saam), and a former school chum, Dora Bunner (played by Gretchen Lee Salter). Dora, or “Bunny” (as she is more generally known by her nickname), is a particularly quirky, over anxious, and delightfully engaging individual who can hardly restrain herself from sharing gossip or other interesting information to anyone within earshot. When Bunny discovers that a curious and worrisome article has just appeared in the newspaper, she immediately panics, running around like a chicken acting as if the sky is falling! Curious neighbors, Mrs. Swettenham (Kim Doppe) and her son Edmond (Frederick Winder) had also read the advertisement in the newspaper and stopped by the home in the late afternoon asking Letitia if the strange announcement in the paper is some kind of joke or perhaps a game. They also ask if anyone in the home is concerned. Letitia seems to pass it off to everyone as some kind of crude joke, probably of little or no significance. The assembled neighbors and family members alike, share their humor and concerns over a glass of wine in the drawing room as the designated time approaches. Suddenly, as the clock on the mantlepiece rings out the time, there is a flash of light and the room goes completely dark, followed by the external door opening with the dark figure rapidly entering, waving a gun and demanding that people raise their arms. Shots ring out – – and the evening mystery begins.

The principal characters in the play also include Police Inspector Craddock (Randy Anger), his Sargent assistant (Jim Kilpatrick), and a very effective amateur sleuth, Miss Marple (Melynda Kiring). In addition, there is a kitchen servant and household maid by the name of Mitzie (Christina Boothman), and another employee/friend, Phillipa Haymes (Kaitlyn Brennan), who also contribute significantly to the storyline. There are many seemingly nonsensical assumptions made by the lead investigators, that is, until the astute Miss Marple and clever Inspector Craddock put their heads together and dig deep enough into some family letters that finally unearth hidden information on one member of the household, who is the murderer!

The acting is quite superb all the way around with Melynda Kering, Sally Hogarty and Randy Anger getting top accolades. Not far behind, we thoroughly enjoyed Mitzi’s paranoid madness and Bunny’s frantic panic and over-ambitious sharing of information. The set is exceptionally well designed, decorated and presented by Diane McRice, but then again, Diane’s work is always superlative. Costume work by CC Cardin is to be noticed.

The Plotline Theater is a newer production company that is now in its second exciting season. The managing director, Randy Anger, is the company’s Artistic Director and Producer, a gentleman whose work I’ve enjoyed for probably 30 years. Company Producer and Director Matthew Davis, is both the Artistic Director and the director of this play at the Campbell Theater. The show is presented by Plotline Theater Company, but sponsored by Onstage Repertory Theatre and their management and production team, including Mark Hinds, Todd Drummond, Randall Nott, John Lytle, and Jim Maher.

This is a very entertaining show that has lots of twists and turns and will keep you glued to the edge of your seat right down to the last second. It is a show that should absolutely not be missed. All the recent hard work is paying off and really making this intimate theater a very worthy entertainment venue for the citizens of Martinez.

A Murder is Announced continues Thursdays at 7 pm, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and with Sunday matinees at 2:30 pm, now through Sunday, May 26th. Ticket prices are very reasonable at $22 for adults and $19 for Seniors and Students (age 19 and under). The Campbell theater is wheelchair accessible and located at 636 Ward St. in Martinez, CA. For tickets, go to www.brownpapertickets.com or call, (925) 350-9770 or visit www.campbelltheater.com.

There’s magic on the stage at the Campbell Theater with Plotline Theater Company’s newest play, the enchanting comedic drama “Bell, Book and Candle.”

Originally penned in 1950 by John Van Druten, the play was later adapted into the well-known Academy Award nominated film of the same name, featuring Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak.

Randy Anger, who directed and produced the Campbell performance, said that he was originally inspired to do the play because of his love for the movie.

“Bell Book and Candle has been one of my favorite movies forever,” said Anger. “I just said, ‘I know it’s from a play,’ so I looked it up, and I went, ‘the play’s better than the movie, scriptwise.’ I mean it just focuses so much on these important characters.”

The play centers around the life of Gillian Holoryd (Anna Oglesby-Smith), the young and attractive landlady of an apartment complex, who is also a witch – literally. She and her Aunt Queeny (Jennifer Lynn Brown Peabody) and her brother Nicky (IanWilcox) are all members of a society of magic users living hidden in plain sight in 1950s New York.

Gillian has just returned from an extended trip to Mexico and has discovered, upon her return, a certain dissatisfaction with her life. She doesn’t want to visit her regular haunts or hang out with her regular friends, and can’t quite identify why. She also finds herself attracted to her new upstairs tenant, Sheperd Henderson (Edwin Peabody).

Sheperd sees her as nothing more than a landlady, although she piques his interest when she tells him she may be able to get him in contact with Sidney Redlitch (Jerry Motta), an author exploring the world of the supernatural that his publishing company wants to sign.

Gillian is a smart and careful witch, and while she would normally avoid using her magic in a flashy or impetuous way – and indeed, berates Aunt Queeny for doing so early in the play – when she discovers that Henderson is romantically involved with her college rival, she decides to make him hers, casting a spell to make him fall madly in love with her.

But while things appear to work out for her initially, magic in Van Druten’s world is not simple or straightforward. It does not upend the laws of physics or make possible that which could not have happened, and sits uneasily with human emotion. And when a literary collaboration between Sidney Redlitch and Gillian’s brother Nicky threatens to expose her witch side to Sheperd, everyone – especially Gillian – learns exactly how dangerous it is to try and blur the line between magic and love.

Throughout, the play makes copious use of both comedy and drama, with a wealth of lighthearted quips and jokes wrapped around a core of emotional depth. And though the romance starts with a magic spell, it eventually takes on a life of its own. Edwin Peabody said that the chemistry between Van Druten’s characters make the play work.

“The relationship between Gillian and Shepherd is really what drew me to this play to begin with. They really enjoy each other’s company, and you see it in the writing. ”

The cast is phenomenal, bringing the somewhat fantastical script down to earth. Motta and Jennifer Lynn Brown Peabody mostly play their characters for laughs, and earn them well. Wilcox plays Nicky as a mischievous Puck-like figure, happy to enjoy any chaos or misfortune around him as long as it amuses him.

Wilcox said he enjoyed playing the character.

“He’s a fun one, because he’s this devil-may-care flamboyant guy – he has fun with life, and that is always a pleasure to play.”

Campbell veteran Edwin Peabody is a joy to watch, first as the straight man muggle, and later as a man enchanted, groping around the outline of something being wrong, but unable to identify it.

But it is Oglesby-Smith who steals the show as Gillian, She makes Gillian and her journey of love and loss real, and character growth that could have felt two-dimensional in someone else’s hands is rich and textured in hers.

Oglesby-Smith said that Gillian’s transformation was one of the most interesting parts of the role.

“I love how layered she is; I love discovering new moments for her,” she said. “It’s challenging. It’s very difficult to do it in a way that’s subtle enough, but is also impactful enough so that you notice the difference in her between act one and act three, but it doesn’t feel abrupt.”

Ultimately, “Bell, Book and Candle” is pure magic.

By SCOTT BABA
Art and Entertainment Editor

One-person plays are always a little hectic, and “I Am My Own Wife,” Onstage Theater’s newest play at the Campbell, is no exception. Actor Randall Nott wears a single costume throughout the play, and while the set has a number of distinct locales, they shift fluidly from one to the next, sometimes from sentence to sentence.

Nott bounces from character to character and scene to scene, and for the first few minutes, before the voices have settled into distinct personalities and time and place assert themselves, it is all a little disorienting. But after a few moments the chaos retreats, and out of it emerges the fascinating story of Charlotte Von Mahlsdorf, the real-life antiquarian, museum curator, and one of the most celebrated transvestites of the 20th century.

Charlotte was born Lothar Berfelde in Berlin, Germany, in 1928. From a young age Charlotte felt like a girl trapped in a boy’s body. Over the course of her life she managed to survive as an open transvestite under both the Nazis and the East German communists. While living under the communists, she gathered household items from bombed out houses and the belongings of those who had fled to the west, creating a historical collection of every-day items. Her collection eventually evolved into the Gründerzeit Museum, which she curated until she left Germany in 1997.

Charlotte’s life story is interesting enough in and of itself, but the play is framed as something of a story-within-a-story, with the playwright Doug Wright inserting his own experience discovering Charlotte at the Gründerzeit Museum in 1993, and his decision to write about her.

Wright – a self-professed gay man from the Bible belt – is astounded and moved by Charlotte’s history of flourishing as an LGBT outsider under the most adverse of circumstances, and telling her story becomes his obsession. But even as Wright finds himself more and more invested in Charlotte’s story, cracks begin to appear in her narrative about her own life, and Wright – both as character and writer – must wrestle with ideas of truth and trust and where the greatest value of a story lies.

The play flits between narrative styles, from written correspondence to conversational dialogue to storytelling direct from Charlotte to the audience. This mixed bag of narration allows Nott to show his range as he dances between 36 different characters in a variety of different circumstances, depicting their stories in a variety of different ways.

Of the many characters, Charlotte is the most distinct. Nott plays her with a restrained vulnerability, carefully riding the line between feminine and masculine. Wright is played as a young man, idealistic and excited. Also standout is John Marks, a world-weary journalist and mutual acquaintance between Charlotte and Wright.

Director Helen Means said that the way the play was written, it was all up to Nott to give life to all the different characters.

“You can’t use a lot of costuming or anything to separate the characters,” said Means. “It’s written for you to really use your voice, or a slight prop. Besides [Charlotte] there’s only one other costume. You have to work on the different varieties of voice, and the speed.”

Nott said working out those details was one of the most interesting parts of doing the play.

“The biggest challenge is coming up with a unique voice for each character – or at least semi unique. A lot of the soldiers and officals sort of blend together, because they’re all almost – you might even say they’re Hogans Heroes type sterotypes on those little small roles, because you just have to make a quick impression, and figuring those out and trying to keep them separate is the challenge.”

“I Am My Own Wife” won the Pulitzer Prize, as well as the Tony Award for Best Play, but Nott said he’d wanted to do the play before it had won any accolades.

“I’d actually seen the play on Broadway when it first moved there before all the awards came out, and I knew it was something that I wanted to attempt at some point in the future,” said Nott. “It’s just one of those actors roles that’s a real challenge. And it’s got a great story, and a lot of potential to play with it.”

Nott added that he also wanted to do the play to explore Charlotte’s story.

“I like how it deals with outsiders and how they have a voice and have survived in the most dangerous times,” said Nott.

Nott also said he thought it was important that the play explored the more complicated side of Charlotte’s history.

“When Doug Wright was writing it, he basically got halfway into writing this play, and he had this whole plot line in his head about Charlotte as a hero,” said Nott. But when the darker aspects of Charlotte’s story came out, “he suddenly realized that life is pretty complex. And we should show that too. And that’s [a theme] he talks about too, how things should be preserved how they are. And that’s life.”

Ultimately Nott’s myriad performances combine with Charlotte’s strange uplifting empowering discomfiting life story, creating a memorable and powerful performance well worth watching.

We have a lot of exciting events coming up in June at the Martinez Campbell Theater.

Starting the month off, on Friday, June 1, we have a Singer-Songwriter Showcase featuring Fooling Marie, Anchors Up, Eli Moody, Uncle Jimi, Roezi Rebel & John Todd. This ages 21+ show is only $5 and starts at 7 p.m.

Saturday, June 2, we have Puppets of Praise Theater presenting DooWop Wed Widing Hood.

Don’t miss this sharply told, crisply paced 60 minute one-act musical ride through Ozlandia. This adaptation of a 50s era Little Red Riding Hood, Doo Wop style, with appearances by some of your favorite Wizard of Oz Characters will appeal to both children and adults alike.

Join the Puppets of Praise life sized black-light puppet characters as they add their own crazy twist to the original musical production. Come dressed in your favorite 50s outfit or just drop in as you are and enjoy the show by clapping and laughing along. Truly fun for all ages.

Showtimes are 2 p.m., 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. General admission is $10. Children under 5, seniors and groups of eight or more only $7.

We welcome back the Vagabond Players, presenting The Boys Next Door, June 8 through June 16. Friday and Saturday shows at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2:30 p.m. General admission $19, seniors $16.

On Saturday, June 9, we will be holding auditions for the first annual Martinez community talent show! Auditions by appointment between 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Contact live@campbelltheater.com to set up an audition. The show will be held Saturday, June 23, at 8 p.m.

Saturday, June 16, at 1 p.m., join us for Highway 21 – A Contra Costa County Historical Society Author in the Archives talk featuring John Mercurio and Steve Minnear. The event if free, but a $10 donation is suggested.

The week of June 18 to June 22, The Other Other Theater Company is bringing theater education classes to the Campbell for grades K-5.

Come laugh with us as we host Act II Improv on Friday, June 22. Showtime is 7:30 p.m. and tickets are only $10.

Onstage Theater closes out its 40th season this month with “A Funny Little Thing Called Love” at the Campbell Theater, a series of one-act plays written by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten, the writing trio that is sometimes collectively know as Jones Hope Wooten.

Jones Hope Wooten are some of the most prolific writers in modern theater, and their work is no stranger to Martinez.

Campbell regulars may recognize the punchy, fast-paced, quip-filled style of writing in “A Funny Little Thing Called Love” as similar to other plays put on locally, like “Christmas Belles,” Onstage Theater’s semi-regular end-of-the-year holiday production.

“A Funny Little Thing Called Love” contains five standalone one-act comedies with a wildly diverse range of settings and characters.

In the quick introductory tale, “Love Is On the Air,” a newsroom reports on the beautiful full moon shining down, and its enchanting magic which is said to bring lovers together.

In “The Lone Star Ladies’ Justice Brigade,” a man’s evening goes sideways when he is suddenly brought face to face with the consequences of his romantic adventurism.

A newlywed couple find their relationship under strain when their Hawaiian honeymoon is unexpectedly interrupted in “A Hono-lulu of a Honeymoon.”

In “A Little Brit of Romance,” a quiet evening at a rooftop cafe in London is interrupted by the turbulent relationship troubles of an Oklahoman woman and her fiance, which draws in everyone present as unwilling participants.

The final play, “Upper West Side Story,” is a delightful escalation comedy as one man’s attempt to prepare the perfect evening to propose spirals inexorably out of control.

The nature of the multi-play format means that there are a wide variety of stories, styles, and characters, and some of the individual one-acts can be hit and miss, depending on personal preference.

But if not every play is for every audience member, the selection is also wide enough here that everyone will definitely be able to find something they enjoy. And Jones Hope Wooten, who got their start in sitcoms, keep the quips, jokes and physical gags flowing well enough that, should any particular narrative fall flat, the comedy still remains constant.

Actor Randall Nott said that the fast pace and humor of “A Funny Little Thing Called Love” was an interesting stylistic choice.

“It is very much TV style comedy, sitcom stuff, setups for one-liners and character bits we know,” Nott said. “It’s classic in many ways, I guess – cheap in many others. It’s kind of going back and forth, rides the line between them.”

Nott said that the tone matched the lighthearted series of stories well.

“The silliness of it seems to be an ongoing theme – that you can just let that go and have fun with it,” he said.

Throughout the play, common themes and symbols weave the five distinct tales into a cohesive whole. Every story revolves around love and relationships in some fashion, although usually in a roundabout way that subverts classic tropes and expectations of the romance genre.

“A Hono-lulu of a Honeymoon,” for example, sidesteps the courtship phase entirely, and begins after the wedding, choosing instead to explore the “after” in “happily ever after,” and the learning curve required to reconcile two previously separate lives into one new whole.

Another surprising rejection of traditional romance in “A Funny Little Thing Called Love” is the age of its characters. Nobody in the play represents the usual “young lovers” archetype. Instead, most of the characters are apparently well into their middle age. Many of them have been married before, some multiple times. Everyone seems a little bit battered by life, and little bit broken. There’s a vulnerability to these characters, a knowledge of what it’s like to have been burned before, and a willingness to face the flames again anyway. It’s an aspect of the play that’s surprisingly refreshing, and which makes the romance all the sweeter.

Director Edwin Peabody said that the age and experience of the characters was something that drew him to the play, and something he wanted to share.

“I thought it was important to kind of realize that a lot of people this age, 40s and 50s, are experiencing these things as well,” said Peabody. “And it is a funny little thing called love, especially when you’re older. Because you have a history and you have a past, but at the same time, each of these characters that fall in love, they enter into it really honestly, versus some kind of comic way to get in.”

Peabody added, “It’s like people are realizing – through comedy, or through all this craziness – that they all just want to be together, not alone.”

The cast pulls double and triple duty throughout the performance. Other productions of the play have fielded as many as 30 different actors, but Onstage chose to take a more minimalist approach, with only ten actors playing all the parts, everyone weaving deftly between the many stories and characters.

Jennifer Lynn Brown Peabody, who plays four different characters, said that switching between everything was complex, but fun. “I think it’s hilarious. It’s fun because I get to play four different people,” she said. “I have to figure out which one I’m going to be next. It’s like multiple personalities.”

Delaney Duquesne, who also plays four different characters, said that it took some time to develop each unique character.

“In the beginning I found that I was very one-note,” she said. “But now that I’ve worked with them so much, I find that it’s a lot easier to access them.”

Meanwhile, Remington Stone, who plays three different characters (including two of the romantic leads), said he was just happy to be here.

“I usually play villains, so this is a complete departure for me,” Stone said. “Playing normal, wholesome people, kissing people on stage – that never happens.”

Though the narratives can be a little uneven from one play to the next, there’s definitely something for everyone in this fun, funny, heartwarming collection of comedies currently playing at the Campbell Theater.

Considered one of the most-beloved plays in the English language, “The Importance of Being Earnest” is seen by many as Oscar Wilde’s masterpiece – both a smart and delightful comedy and a veiled but scathing critique of high society.

Still as hilarious today as it was when it was first performed in 1895, Wilde’s effervescent wit and sparkling dialogue do much of the heavy lifting, and, for anyone attempting to produce the play, the challenge often lies in keeping up with the material; of embracing its exuberant farce, living up to its ridiculous-yet-human characters, and delivering its rapid fire jokes with skill.

Happily, Onstage Theater’s performance, directed by Kim Doppe, manages to pull this off, breathing joyous life into the already dazzling work.

Subtitled “A Trivial Comedy for Serious People,” the story revolves around two friends, Jack Worthing (Justin Hernandez) and Algernon Moncrief (Wayne Roadie), two gentlemen of high society. Both men have each independently come up with the same ruse in order to go out and have fun and avoid family responsibilities: they fabricate imaginary people to use as a sort of prop to help them escape the drudgeries of their conservative lives.

For Algernon this takes the form of Bunbury, an ill and ailing friend who he must visit often, always, conveniently, around the same time as some social engagement he wishes to avoid. Jack takes the deception one step further, creating an alter-ego by the name of Earnest which allows him to enjoy himself in the city, while telling those at his residence in the country that “Earnest” is his irresponsible dandy of a brother who lives in town and needs frequent looking after.

During his time spent as Earnest in the city, Jack has come to fall in love with Algernon’s cousin Gwendolen Fairfax (Rachel Powers). And while he has succeeded in earning her affection, he must still contend with her intimidating and imperious mother, Lady Bracknell (Jeanine Perasso), who does not approve of the irregularities of his origin.

When Algernon discovers that Jack has a beautiful young ward living at his residence in the country, and that this ward, Cecily Cardew (Rebecca Davis), has heard much of Jack’s intriguingly wicked brother “Earnest” but never met him, he promptly decides that a trip to the country could be a very enjoyable diversion.

Though the silliness that follows is more delight than drama, Wilde still slips in a number of sly jabs at the hypocrisies of the aristocracy, crafting nuanced characters who, in their own ways, must all wrestle with ideas of prejudice, identity, and societal expectations.

The cast does an excellent job conveying those rich inner lives. Davis, who plays Cecily with a charming innocence, said that part of what helped her do that was how much she related to the character.

“I feel in a lot of ways she was me when I was a teenager,” Davis said. “She’s very dreamy, she’s very imaginative, she’s very smart. I think she lives a very small life, but she’s created a bigger world for herself in her imagination.”

Powers’ Gwendolen sweeps across the stage as the paragon of a refined, upper class lady. Powers said that she enjoyed giving life to her character.

“I love Gwendolen’s sophistication and idea of being in control of everything,” Powers said. “She plans every single scenario out, making sure the man she loves does everything she wants him to do, and she has a little bit of sass. But at the same time, underneath, I think she’s just totally such a hopeless romantic. So I think it’s fun to play.”

As Algernon, Roadie depicts a man ready, willing, and excited to be up to mischief. Roadie said that he’s always wanted to play the role since the first time he saw the show.

“There’s nothing to not like about the character and the role,” Roadie said. “He’s perfect. Perfect in every way. I love him.”

Hernandez shines as Jack, carefully balanced between between two sides of himself – the man who invented Earnest, and the man who knew Earnest was a bad idea from the beginning.

“The thing I love about Jack is how identifiable his character is,” said Hernandez. “I feel – for me – he really captures that struggle to be truthful even when it’s really hard to be and everything you want and hope for is on the line. So it’s wonderful to explore what it means to be earnest, truthful and honest, and what it is to lose and win and explore those wins and losses on stage.”

Director Doppe said that this kind of rich juxtaposition of whimsy and complexity was one of the reasons she wanted to stage the play.

“This play is very smart,” said Doppe. “It’s very articulate. It also is hilariously funny. And it has a very modern sense, even though it’s over 100 years old. I also really believe that this play, when you talk about Oscar Wilde, was a play that depicted how he liked to approach life. You see every single one of these characters having a very clear inner life – something that they’re trying to get out – and a very clear outer life – something that they’re telling everyone they are. And every single character, from the household staff to the main characters, are all very much like that.”

Ultimately, Onstage puts on a fun, fanciful and enjoyable production of a well-loved play, and it is well worth the viewing.